I will not even require a research grant to share with you the Susan hypothesis on binge eating - it's siblings and particularly those in large families.
It goes like this. No-one wants to think that a sibling is somehow getting more than his or her share. Everyone wants to somehow outdo one's sibling. Nothing is more delicious than thinking you have somehow got one over one's annoying brother or sister. Yes, our family is made up of our nearest and dearest but also our most fierce rivals.So out comes a treat food - a packet of biscuits or a bag of chips. This was a rare event in our family - a single packet of 'Chocolate Wheatens or Chips Ahoy choc chip biscuits occasionally made an appearance on a Friday afternoon.
It then became the aim - no the duty - of each of us to eat as many biscuits as we possibly could in as fast a time as possible to ensure we got at least our fair share. And there it is. The makings of a binge eater. Funnily enough the same level of competition never applied to Mum's meatloaf or boiled peas, but I digress.
This behaviour is not limited to humans. This morning at South Bank I ran into a bloke named Paul who was feeding the lizards, something he says he does every morning. I am not sure of the wisdom of feeding processed turkey to lizards but I can tell you they were lapping it up.
When I started taking photos, Paul threw an extra piece out cautioning that the lizard had probably eaten its fill. But wait, he said. There's another lizard over there. This bloke may not want it but there's no way he's going to let the other bloke get anywhere near it.
And so the turkey was lapped up and the lizard is seen here licking its lips in satisfaction.
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